Madness
Ska / Alternative
When I was approached by an agent, on behalf of ‘The Dangermen’, & asked if I would write a brief history of their quest, I was, at first, a little apprehensive…. what if I were to put forward an inclination, a word, even a question mark & it was seen as a 'diabolical liberty?' Would the next contract be for me, c/o the corporation? Secondly, I was on first name terms with one of the D.M’s pet gerbils, which not even employees high up on the corporations' ladder were aware of.
Before they entered the arena that is 'entertainment' I would be the one slapping their backs all the way - I was the one polishing their ego until you could see your face in it's reflection, & I was the one that would gladly have taken a bullet for each of these honourable gentlemen - I would be their fall guy, if it meant getting the job done, proper!
In 1967 The Dangermen were born. There were originally 9 members of the Caribbean’s most disciplined. They wrote, rehearsed & recorded vigorously throughout 1967-69, making only a handful of live appearances for the Cuban & Dominican Republic's elite. Unwelcome in Guatemala, & banned for almost 20 years from playing the state of Texas, due to the lyrical content of ‘Johnny We're Sorry', the band concentrated playing the underground circuit of Windward & Leeward Islands. Sadly, after 3 of the band members 'disappeared’ from their nerve centre in Mandeville, I felt it was time for drastic musical change, & sealed what, at the time, was a ground breaking deal on the Q.E.2 (via the late lord Mountbatten). The band hit Hamilton Island with a bang but were then, mysteriously, never seen or heard of again (except for a few unconfirmed sightings).
The ‘men had finally been taken out of the danger. Now, undeterred like a war machine, stronger than ever, it was time, their time…. a time to surreptitiously mingle, infiltrate, divide & ultimately rule what Mr. Benjamin Sherman Snr. had created over 40 years earlier.
They had always strived to instil the notion through words & music that “this was not a mad world, but a world about to turn''.
Positively Yours, Zakariah Zuckipalm.
|